children of the land (awaiting to swim in the stars)
by littlepuddles
Summary: Natsu heard how her voice shook, but kept his ear pressed to the door. Going against his better judgement, he said, "we'll stay put,"-he turned his head to her general direction, but his night-adjusted eyes caught her looking elsewhere-, "you still got that fancy smelly stuff?"


The unfortunate field didn't compare to the city below; it had tumbling rocks that Lucy dared to call safe. For that moment, the two pressed their backs against the wall and the dust cloud made Lucy sneeze. Natsu warned her to not make a noise as the rocks shook over their heads. When the tremor ceased a pebble smacked Natsu on the arm, but he cast it away and soldiered farther into the tunnel. He assured her that there had to be an open-air marketplace somewhere. There always is, was his reasoning and it had Lucy bouncing on her toes.

Lucy had to ask herself who would build an underground city, and in the middle of a field for that matter. Even the stairs they took down there crumbled, but Natsu could jump far, so Lucy was thankful for that.

His fire lit the tunnel, but it was still dark, and Lucy had to hold the back of Natsu's jacket for fear of slime monsters or boogey-mans coming after her. "Be on watch," he told her before entering the city. Natsu is Lucy's savior, but he's not invincible. Lucy knew that first hand. So when Natsu stopped in mid-step with widened eyes, Lucy's hand instinctively grabbed her whip and unfurled it from its' clasp.

Natsu didn't wait another second and gripped Lucy's wrist so tight that his knuckles turned white. He sailed through the tunnels and Lucy wanted to ask why they were running away from the exit, but he wouldn't answer. He never did when he was serious.

"The entrance," he said after skidding around the umpteenth corner and slamming into an old home. He wasn't concerned as the roof above them shook, and he leaned against the door. Natsu looked panicked. "There was something. I don't know what-but it wasn't good."

Lucy dared to ask, "is it after us?"

Natsu ran a hand through his hair, and heaved to catch his breath. Lucy knelt before him, but fell back slightly when his fire went out and a frigid cold tickled her ears. She steadied herself when Natsu's hand found hers and helped her sit up.

"Why wouldn't they be? We practically littered the halls with our scents." Natsu could hear Lucy swallow with unease as he pressed his ear to the door. When the smallest shuffle sounded in the tunnel Natsu stiffened. It must have been a good mile back. "It's far."

"Run or hide?"

Natsu heard how her voice shook, but kept his ear pressed to the door. Going against his better judgement, he said, "we'll stay put,"-he turned his head to her general direction, but his night-adjusted eyes caught her looking elsewhere-, "you still got that fancy smelly stuff?"

"Perfume?" Lucy asked when she reached into her key holder and turned to face him by the sound of his voice. After the vial was handed to him Natsu took a sniff and gagged, then shuffled the stones to fall off of his knees.

"Whatever. You're staying here." Natsu had begun to stand when Lucy gripped the back of his shirt and looked around the room with eyes that were blinded by the dark. She wanted to yell at him so badly as the sounds of his shoes and the pulling of his shirt told her that he took a step away. He capped the perfume and continued; his hand letting hers go. "I'll be back before you can count to ten."

It didn't make her feel at all safe when he was out the door before she could blink, and the sound of the perfume cap slamed against the floor. Lucy knew that Natsu knew she was safe. What other reason would she have to worry over, then? Oh right, Lucy remembered and brought her whip closer to her chest. A creature of unknown origin was a mile down the tunnel she was in. Apparently Natsu claimed that situation safer than most others (safe enough for Natsu to leave her for ten seconds with a monster coming her way), so Lucy didn't count and grasped her trusty whip with shaking hands.

Maybe in daylight, Lucy would feel the same adrenaline she felt on her other adventures, but in the dark she was more terrified than excited. The buzzing didn't coil in her stomach, nor make its' way to her toes and her hands felt far too cold. She took the five deep breathes that Natsu advised her to do if she felt scared, but her mind went into a frenzy. It must have been more than ten seconds, she thought and Lucy didn't know if Natsu could even count to ten which had her shaking in her boots.

She stood upon lead legs and pressed herself against the door; her whip dragging lazily behind. Suddenly, a burst of light rammed into the door and blinded poor Lucy, then knocked her to the floor. Splinters of burning wood flew over her body, and before she could bring herself to stand, Lucy's eyes raised to see Natsu clutching her whip just as she was. Natsu bit his lip in frustration and pulled tight against Lucy's hold. His urgency meant something, so Lucy let him have the whip and he turned to face the tunnel. The stones before him lit up and Lucy was smothered in his shadow.

"Stay down," Natsu said as a low growl rumbled in his throat. He cracked the whip once and the embers by the door died down then swirled up into little campfires. A cold chill ran up Lucy's spine. She didn't have to say anything back, so she lied back down with her fists balled and eyes snapped shut. There was a spot of black where Natsu stood. From the light blast, Lucy reasoned.

"Did you-"

"Yeah, and we may have to make a wild dash."

"That's f-"

"You're exhausted," Natsu said and cracked the whip another time as sails of fire surrounded it. A god-worthy weapon. "This thing's gonna to pay a nasty fine for gettin in our way."

Lucy began to stand, and her voice carried into the hallways. It was strong. "I'm fine."

"You're not-stay down." Natsu's voice had always been stronger than Lucy's.

The whip lashed out and Natsu jumped from the doorway; the feral scream of the creature following as a severed tentacle landed at Lucy's feet. Natsu avoided each attack of the tree figure, and when Natsu severed each limb the slime-coated tentacles dried into huge branches that were covered with dead leaves. It growled, and Natsu growled back, but cut it short when vines shot from the cracked mouth of the faceless tree. He avoided and cracked the whip again and again until his hands felt numb. The tree shuddered. It had gashes Lucy could fit into.

The flames swirled over her whip and Natsu wobbled on his feet. "Alright," he said and cracked the whip against the floor, "time to finish this guy off."

"Natsu, wait," Lucy said, her body blocking the doorway. She saw how the shaking tree leaned against the wall, and with how the tentacles curled in on themselves in pain. She decided to say, "there's something about this one."

But Natsu was having none of it. "I thought you wanted to escape."

"Of course," she replied and took in a breath, but Lucy knew that Natsu was in one of his moods. Those were never fun. The tree was in for more than just a thrashing. "But this one . . . Does it not remind you of something? It cannot be native to our area-it has the appearance of the valley's trees."

Natsu had not turned. With hesitance, he asked, "what are getting at?"

"Why aren't there others? If this creature was like any other, then there would be more. Do you smell them?" Natsu shook his head once, and a shuddering breath followed. The area was still light, and Lucy was thankful that Natsu kept the flames going as they spoke. He most definitely could defeat that creature in the dark. "Then that means there is only one."

"Are you saying-" Natsu whipped his head to the wall she was hidden in, but Lucy stepped out with a smile.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about."

"You know I don't."

"It's a spirit!" Lucy exclaimed with her legs wide and hands almost ripping out her pigtails in frustration. That dense head of his just couldn't listen to common sense.

"So then like Loke?" Lucy nodded and her hands fell to her side. Natsu turned back to the tree creature. He cracked the whip once more against the floor with a devilish smile. "That makes this all the more easier."

"No!" Lucy screeched and stumbled to grab the whip; the fire immediately left when she got it. It appeared to dance over Natsu's fingers. She grabbed his wrist and held it towards the tree. "That tree-right over there, the one you whipped to unconsciousness-is a spirit. What am I? Don't answer that, I am a celestial spirit wizard. Do you have no brain? Certainly you must. Spirits cannot die. If you 'kill' them they will haunt you!"

"Oh," Natsu replied, but Lucy could tell that he still didn't understand. "So you wanna another key or something?"

She wanted to smack him hard enough that he'd fly into the tree, but then Lucy remembered what bad shape the tree was in and thought otherwise. "No," Lucy said and opened her key holder. None were shining so she knew a contract would be risky, but offered it anyway. "I need to speak to it."

Natsu didn't reply, but the flame soared off of his fingers and circled around the tree in a ring of light. He huffed indignatly then murmured to make it quick and watched as she wobbled to the groaning tree. Lucy knelt beside it, and rested her hand against the bark. The tree gave up and slammed into the floor when exhaustion overtook it. Natsu jumped to her side, and she could tell he was furious because the circle of flames flickered dangerously with his emotions.

"It's just tired," Lucy rushed to say, but her voice couldn't hide the obvious fear.

"I'm killin it."

"Don't!" Lucy shoved Natsu's leg away and he almost stepped back. The flames over her head calmed when he took a seat behind her, but rose slightly when he glared at the tree over Lucy's back. She turned back to the tree as the creaking started again. It awoke with the rumbling of the tunnel and Lucy wondered how Natsu's flames didn't engulf the tree when it sat all the way up with a harsh snap.

"Oh great spirit," Lucy said, and bowed slightly in reverence. The tree looked pleased; as pleased as a faceless tree could. "I am a humble servant of the stars and zodiacs. I deeply regret the harm we have caused to your body, and ask of your forgiveness."

The tree's mouth cracked open and words formed in the heads of the humans before it. Natsu had heard this language before; he had mastered it at a young age. Igneel made sure of that. Lucy could barely understand, but in Natsu's mind, it read:

"I have seen many faces cross my fields; all who perished in these tunnels by my branches. Who are you to not do the same?"

Natsu reiterated what he heard to Lucy and she nodded enthusiastically. She told him to reply back (not stupidly, she added as a side note).

"As the woman said: she is a servant of the spirits. Are you not one yourself?"

The voice shook in his head:

"That I am, but too many have not noticed. They have polluted my lands and made the once sprouting grass a valley of dead birds. It is not your place to change what they have done, child."

"No child of the land has the right to approve of your state." Lucy was worried at how Natsu was having a silent stare off with a faceless tree. "What you need most has dwelled in this woman's heart. I have felt it through the years. She has not come to worsen the valley."

Lucy could hear snippets of their interaction, but only made out a few confusing words, so she stayed silent before the tree spirit. Lucy jumped when Natsu sighed behind her.

"He believes us," Natsu said and moved to Lucy's side. "What you do next won't affect him in any way, right?"

"I would never."

"Good." The tree then creaked and Natsu pushed his hand out at it. He said under his breath, "so impatient, that tree." Natsu looked up and stood to his feet; the flames grew brighter and he spoke to the tree in a tongue she read only small things about in Levy's library.

She deciphered it as:

"The mistress of the sky won't pluck a leaf from your branches. Accept her offer and speak to her in the language of our people."

The tree turned to Lucy and wrapped a vine around her stomach. It brought her to her feet and the tree retracted the vine. The spirit kept it's mouth shut, but a voice echoed through the tunnels.

"Woman, have you come to harm me?"

"I wouldn't." Lucy said and pleaded for her words to be understood by the ancient spirit. She was happy when the tree creaked in a way she could only say was gleeful. "I have come to contract with you."

"That risk is not advised," the tree said as it hunkered down to an almost sitting position. The flames above their heads moved to not catch the dead leaves on fire.

"I have known that," Lucy continued to say, but held her breath anyway. "I can help your land and replenish your leaves, if you allow me the honor. I take care of my spirits and hold them above others. If you accept the gift to be healthy once again, please contract with me."

"You do have what I desire," the tree said and a glowing light whirled around it's vines as they reached toward her. "I understand your reasoning, woman, but a lesson to be learned is that what has died cannot return in the same glory. My fields shall sprout again without the help of human hands. I thank you for your offer, but for the way my fields have crumbled, I shall decline."

Natsu stepped forward indignantly and Lucy had to think way too much to understand what he was saying. The foreign tongue was once again spoken:

"You said a chance was to be given."

But the tree stayed in its place and said in the language Lucy could understand, "and one was, child of the land. I need not of what you offer, but I shall leave your statement without price."

"Then you will let us free?" Lucy crossed her fingers and the fires moved back into Natsu's hand. They blistered and cast a shadow upon the ancient spirit.

"I shall not hinder your search," the great spirit said. "Continue on your way and beware of the roads ahead. What you seek is near, but do not forget my words. Peace to the land and peace are different in a sense. What you strive for may not bring the satisfaction you dream of."

Natsu and Lucy nodded to each other and turned away from the tree. It slinked away from their shadows and their shoes shuffled across the tunnel's floor. Lucy had to remind herself to keep breathing, but Natsu was a large help because Lucy was getting lost in her own feeling of rejected-ness and Natsu couldn't have her lost in the tunnels too. Not until they could see the stars over their heads, and Natsu knew that would make Lucy smile again.

The tunnel led way to a large hole that hung from above a plaza-like area. It was littered with torn and old fabrics. Must have been where the people slept, Natsu concluded as he shook out the dust from his hair. There were steep steps that led into a pan shaped area of ground with rocks that Lucy noticed to be pillows scattered around it in circles. A blue glow was cast upon the ground as they made camp (really they just laid out their sleeping bags and placed their backpacks under their heads).

Lucy fell asleep with the firelight of Natsu's hands and beneath a lake of stars.

"What a day," Natsu said in a whisper and snuffed the fire. He hoped that Lucy wouldn't be cold without it.


End file.
